Archive for the ‘Q&A’ Category
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
Ronnie Lee Gardner had been arrested in Utah on robbery and murder charges. He was awaiting his day in court. Just before 9am on the morning of April 2, 1985, Gardner was being transported to the old courthouse of Salt Lake City. Once inside, he grabbed a gun that had been left by an accomplice and opened fire in his attempt to escape. When all was said and done, one attorney was dead, the court bailiff was seriously injured, and Gardner himself had taken a bullet. In November of that year, Gardner was sentenced to death.
Twenty-five years later, Gardner is still on death row. On Friday, June 18, 2010, Gardner is slated to die by firing squad at the Utah State Prison. His attorneys have begun filing the first of what are expected to be several appeals. Among these is the claim that Gardner has been on death row too long. According to Gardner’s lawyer, “He asserts that executing him now, after nearly 25 years on death row in Utah, so lacks retributive or deterrent value that it violates the Eighth Amendment.” The Eighth Amendment protects against excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishment.
What do you think? Is it too cruel and unusual to put a man to death after he has been on death row for 25 years and claims to be a changed man? If you want to read some more about the case (Gardner v. Utah) before forming your opinion, click here. Additional background can be found here.
Read about some recent executions and what is happening currently with the death penalty
Tags: Crime, Law, Law Enforcement, Murder, Punishment
Posted in Forensics in The News, Punishment: The Consequence of Crime, Q&A | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
The CSI will usually have to first secure the crime scene, which means blocking the scene from public access, as well as from personnel who do not need to gain immediate access to the scene. This first step is crucial in making sure that the evidence at the scene does not get contaminated by unnecessary traffic. The CSI will employ different search techniques at the crime scene to locate all the evidence. At large scenes, a spiral or grid search pattern may be useful in covering the whole area; in smaller scenes, a zone search pattern may be sufficient. The CSI must prioritize, however, the collection of evidence. Perishable evidence, such as evidence under the influence of biological processes, i.e. blood alcohol content, or evidence exposed to harsh weather or in the path of foot traffic, may need to be collected immediately so that they do not get destroyed. Other evidence that will not degrade over a short period of time can be collected in its proper order. The CSI will also use different light sources to locate evidence that may not be visible under white light, which is also a non-destructive process of evidence collection.
Very often the crime scene investigators will go on eye witness testimony to start their search, but they will not limit it to just those areas if they suspect that evidence may be located in other regions. Knowing that a criminal might make use of the facilities of the house, the CSIs might check the bathroom for trace evidence or brush the telephone receiver for fingerprints, since it is reasonable that the criminal might use those items in the house. Once evidence has been located, it’s not always necessary to collect it right away, so it should be clearly marked with an evidence A-frame or other numbered marker so that it is clear to everyone that there is evidence in that location.
Read about other techniques used at crime scenes
Tags: Alternate Light Source, America’s Most Wanted, Crime, CSI, Evidence, Forensic, Forensic Science, Museum, National Museum of Crime & Punishment, Scene, Search Pattern
Posted in Q&A | No Comments »
Monday, May 4th, 2009
That blue light you always see the CSIs shining on the crime scenes while wearing big orange goggles is not some science version of a psychedelic party. What investigators are doing in that situation is making use of a forensic light source to see hidden objects or objects in a different way than under normal light. Normal white lightis actually a combination of all the different colors of the rainbow, and the forensic light source is merely separating out a certain color (typically blue light), so that only one wavelength of light is represented. For example, blue light has a wavelength of around 450 nm, and red light has a wavelength of around 700 nm in the electromagnetic spectrum.
When light is shined on a surface, the surface can either absorb, reflect, or transmit the light. In special situations, the light that is shined on an object is absorbed by that material and then re-emitted at a different wavelength (called a Stoke’s shift), which is known as fluorescence. Typically when an object fluoresces, the light is re-emitted at a lower energy state, and therefore, at a longer wavelength. In the case of blue light as the incident light, the re-emitted fluorescence usually occurs in the orange spectrum – that’s why investigators wear orange goggles! In order to see the faint fluorescence, investigators must block out all the blue light from entering their eyes since that would drown out the faint fluorescence, so orange goggles will only allow orange light to reach their eyes, and hence, the fluorescence is observed.
Many body fluids, organic materials and fibers will fluoresce under the forensic light source, and other materials such as blood, gunshot residue, and some inks will absorb blue light to appear dark under the light source. These substances are often not observable to the naked eye, and especially if the surface was wiped down or cleaned. The forensic light source is always a good starting point in a crime scene search because it is portable, quick, cheap (once the unit has been paid off), and most of all, non-destructive, meaning that it will not damage or harm any of the evidence.
Learn about other techniques CSIs use at crime scenes and in the lab
Tags: Absorb, ALS, Alternate, America's Most Wanted, Blue Light, Crime, CSI, Evidence, Filter, Fluorescence, Forensic, Forensic Light Source, Forensic Science, Light, Museum, Punishment, Scene, Science, Trace, Transmit
Posted in Q&A | 5 Comments »
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
Most people know that you can recover DNA from blood, but few people know that Red Blood Cells (RBC’s), the cells that make blood red, do not contain DNA. DNA is found in the nucleus of the cell and RBC’s don’t have a nucleus! DNA is actually recovered from the White Blood Cells in blood.
Learn more about the uses of DNA at crime scenes and the science behind it!
Tags: America's Most Wanted, Crime, CSI, DNA, Evidence, Forensic, Forensic Science, Museum, National Museum of Crime & Punishment, Punishment, RBC, Red Blood Cell, Scene, Science
Posted in Q&A | No Comments »
Monday, March 30th, 2009
This question is based on our CSI Workshops offered at the museum, where one of our exercises is to cast a three-dimensional shoeprint in dirt. When casting a shoeprint in dirt, dental stone is mixed with water, and then gently poured onto the shoe impression to fill in all the areas of detail. Dental stone is a casting material that is used at the dentist to make a mold of your teeth, and used by forensic scientists to make casts of shoeprints and other objects. A bounce card is used to pour the dental stone onto the dirt, since it acts as an intermediary surface to prevent splashing of the dental stone onto the impression or obliterating detail in the evidence.
Collecting a shoeprint on concrete will be different depending on the situation. If the shoeprint is made from grime or dirt, dental stone can be used to collect it just as with a shoeprint in dirt. The difference this time is that it will not be a three-dimensional impression, rather a two dimensional image of the shoeprint. The dental stone will actually fill in the areas around the grime or dirt, adhere to it, and remove the shoeprint in the hardened cast – the result being a grimy or dirty shoeprint encased in a cast. Other materials can be used to lift shoeprints on concrete, such as gels lifters. Gel lifters are big sheets of gelatenous material with a sticky surface. The gel lifter is placed over the shoeprint, sticky-side down, and it will collect the shorprint when it is lifted up. This is also very useful when dealing with dusty shoeprints, or shoeprints on more irregular surfaces. Finally, dusty shoeprints can also be lifted by means of an electrostatic dustprint lifter. This is a device that sends a charge over a Mylar film, which will electrostatically lift the dustprint and hold it onto the film. The dustprint can then be photographed on the film and examined for trace eveidence that might have been lifted by the dustprint lifter.
It is important to note that photography will always precede any other form of collection method, and very often photographs are of very high quality and value. Using a flashlight held at an oblique angle to a surface can also help reveal hidden shoeprints on that surface as well, and it is a good search technique for areas of entry and exit from a crime scene.
Explore other forensic techniques here
Tags: America's Most Wanted, Cast, Concrete, Crime, CSI, Evidence, Forensic, Forensic Science, Grime, Mold, Museum, National Museum of Crime & Punishment, Punishment, Scene, Science, Shoeprint
Posted in Q&A | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
TV shows that have forensic science as their main subject, like CSI, do wonders for spreading the science and educating people about the technology that is available. However, the same shows also create what is now referred to as the “CSI effect“, which is an elevated expectation of what real-life forensic science can deliver. The CSI effect is due in part to the creative licenses of the writers of these shows in their exaggeration of the abilities of forensics, and in part due to the way forensics is portrayed as an easy, exact, fast, and glamorous science. In reality, evidence collection and analysis can be a very long, tedious, and difficult task, and the evidence that is recovered may be incomplete or equivocal. That very often leaves jurors and others confused about the difference between real-life and television, and can be detrimental to those jurors who expect more from the science.
That being said, the shows on television do have an element of accuracy in them. They even hire professionals to act as technical advisers to ensure that they don’t depart too far from reality. For the most part, the techniques used on the shows to collect and analyze evidence are the correct techniques for that particular situation, however, in real-life it may not look as pretty as the state-of-the-art equipment on TV. Where the shows tend to go wrong is in their methodology, due to the time-constraints of fitting in a whole case in one hour. Time frames are completely skewed towards the quick-and-easy; it does not take 10 seconds to run a DNA sample or do a fingerprint comparison. The investigation is also misrepresented, since in real-life there is a complete division of labor, and the crime scene investigator will usually not analyze the evidence or interview witnesses or interrogate suspects. A CSI’s job is usually restricted just to evidence collection; then in the lab there are different people who will analyze a specific variety of evidence, such as molecular biology (DNA, serology, etc.), fingerprints, ballistics, documents, and so on. The detective will pull all the pieces of the puzzle together and conduct the investigation, without the scientists in tow.
TV shows like CSI should not be a source of forensic education in the strict sense, and I doubt people are watching the shows and taking notes on how to become a CSI. They should be valued for their entertainment and for the window they open onto the world of forensic science. Just like with most things in life, you should watch the shows with a critical mind, question the accuracy of what is being shown, and do some research to check your suspicions – this way you won’t fall for the CSI effect. And as always, if you have questions that you would like answered, don’t hesitate to send them my way.
Learn about forensic science, DNA and more
Tags: America's Most Wanted, Crime, CSI, CSI effect, Evidence, Forensic, Forensic Science, Museum, National Museum of Crime & Punishment, Punishment, Scene, Science
Posted in Q&A | 9 Comments »
Monday, March 2nd, 2009
Nowadays, it is pretty common knowledge that fingerprints are important evidence in a criminal investigation, and the reason is that every individual has a unique set of fingerprints that remain permanent throughout life. What that means is that no two people, even identical twins (who have the same DNA), will have the same fingerprints. So, when a fingerprint is recovered from a crime scene, that print can be compared with known fingerprints, either from suspects or in a database, and it can be used to identify the person who left it.
Most people think that fingerprints are only found on the tips of one’s fingers; however, the Friction Ridge Patterns that make up a fingerprint are also found on the entire palm of one’s hands, and also on one’s feet and toes. Those ridges are also unique and can be used for comparison with a suspect, so even if one tries to permanently scar the skin on one’s fingers, friction ridge comparison can still be done with the rest of one’s hands or feet.
For more information about the science of fingerprints, click here for our Fingerprints page.
Tags: America's Most Wanted, Crime, CSI, Evidence, Fingerprint, Forensic, Forensic Science, Museum, National Museum of Crime & Punishment, Punishment, Scene, Science
Posted in Q&A | No Comments »
Monday, February 16th, 2009
CSI stands for Crime Scene Investigator or Crime Scene Investigation, depending on the context. In most jurisdictions, the CSI’s primary job function is to respond to a crime scene and to collect the evidence at the scene. The CSI is also responsible for securing the crime scene to prevent contamination of the evidence; documenting the condition of the scene and evidence through photographs, sketches, diagrams, and notes; locating the evidence at the scene; collecting the evidence by various learned methods and techniques; and preserving the evidence for analysis and courtroom presentation.
Unfortunately, in real life CSI’s don’t usually drive to crime scenes in Hummers.
Learn about techniques used by CSI’s at crime scenes
What is the CSI effect?
Tags: America's Most Wanted, Crime, CSI, Evidence, Forensic, Forensic Science, Museum, National Museum of Crime & Punishment, Punishment, Scene, Science
Posted in Q&A | No Comments »
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